Rapper Eminem sues Apple (again)

A dispute between Eminem and Apple Inc. has once again come to legal blows, with the Detroit rapper and his music publisher filing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the iTunes operator for alleged copyright violations.

Filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in Detroit, the formal complaint is the latest move by Eminem's music publishers to aggressively protect the rights to his music, according to the Detroit News.

At issue is is whether record labels have the right to turn an artist's CD recordings into digital music downloads on the Internet, or whether further permission is needed from the music publishers who hold the copyrights to the lyrics and sheet music.

Typically, Apple collects 99 cents each time an iPod owner downloads a song, with the company paying 70 cents of that amount to the recording label. The recording label, in turn, then typically pays 9.1 cents to the music publisher.

In their complaint filed Monday, Eminem's music publisher and copyright manager, Eight Mile Style LLC and Martin Affiliated LLC, allege that although Apple pays a portion of the revenues it collects from Eminem downloads to recording giant Universal Music Group, Eight Mile Style and Martin Affiliated have never authorized Universal to allow the downloads.

"Eight Mile and Martin have demanded that Apple cease and desist its reproduction and distribution and Apple has refused," the suit charged.

This isn't the first time that Apple and Eminem turned to the courts. In 2004, Eight Mile Style and Martin also sued Apple over its use of the Eminem song "Lose Yourself" in a TV commercial for Apple's iTunes music store. The ad, which aired on MTV, featured a 10-year-old singing the lyrics to the Oscar-winning track.

Eminem should have thought about his music rights before Universal bent him over.

Yeah, most of that 30 cents Apple gets goes right back into the cost of distribution, Apple doesn't really make that much on it. Eminem only had to record the thing once and just sit back and watch the money come in. Oh then pay his lawyers to sue Apple for entering into a completely legal agreement with the record label Eminem signed his contract with. Is he going to come after me now for listening to his music, or maybe for NOT listening to his music.

Yeah, most of that 30 cents Apple gets goes right back into the cost of distribution, Apple doesn't really make that much on it. Eminem only had to record the thing once and just sit back and watch the money come in. Oh then pay his lawyers to sue Apple for entering into a completely legal agreement with the record label Eminem signed his contract with. Is he going to come after me now for listening to his music, or maybe for NOT listening to his music.

And how many pennies do you think Eminem gets after his agent and publisher split up the 9 cents. Would anyone be surprised if he is flat broke? He's toast.

If he's flat broke, it is his own fault, no one forced him to make any deals with any record labels, I'm sure Apple would be happy to pull his stuff off iTunes, then we can watch Eminem slip back into obscurity. I really hope the fans create some backlash on this as well.